Paula Barker MP: written questions 2024
170 published records · newest first.
Written questions
Prisoners' ReleaseMinistry of JusticeTabled 10 Sept 2024AnsweredUIN 5141More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what categorisations of crimes will perpetrators be eligible for release from prison under the early release schemes; and what methodology was been used to determine the categories of offenders to be released.
Answer: Release provisions for different sentence types and length are fixed by law. This change has amended the automatic release point for standard determinate sentences. Certain offences have been excluded from this change. This includes sex offences irrespect...
Answered 7 Oct 2024
Original Parliament recordPrisoners' Release: Domestic AbuseMinistry of JusticeTabled 10 Sept 2024AnsweredUIN 5140More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that perpetrators in line for early release who have (a) history of and (b) prior convictions for domestic violence do not reoffend.
Answer: The Government inherited a justice system on the brink of collapse and due to acute prison capacity pressure, the Government had no option but to introduce a change that will allow prisoners serving an eligible standard determinate sentence (SDS) to be re...
Answered 7 Oct 2024
Original Parliament recordPrisoners' ReleaseMinistry of JusticeTabled 10 Sept 2024AnsweredUIN 5139More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether any prisoners convicted of violent offences are scheduled for early release.
Answer: Certain offences have been excluded from this change. This includes serious violent offences with a sentence of four years or more; specified offences linked to domestic abuse irrespective of sentence length (including stalking, coercive or controlling be...
Answered 7 Oct 2024
Original Parliament recordTicketmasterDepartment for Business and TradeTabled 10 Sept 2024AnsweredUIN 5138More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if his Department will bring forward proposals to regulate the de facto monopoly of ticket sales by Ticketmaster.
Answer: Under competition law, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), as the UK’s competition authority, is responsible for investigating anti-competitive practices such as an abuse of a dominant position. The Government has ensured that the CMA has signifi...
Answered 17 Sept 2024
Original Parliament recordTax Evasion: Small BusinessesTreasuryTabled 10 Sept 2024AnsweredUIN 5137More
Question: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of developing a system to tackle trends in the level of tax evasion from small businesses.
Answer: The Government is committed to tackling all forms of non-compliance, including evasion. Each year HMRC estimates the size of the tax gap, and the latest published tax gap (2022-23) was 4.8% of theoretical liabilities, or £39.8bn. The element attributable ...
Answered 18 Sept 2024
Original Parliament recordInland WaterwaysDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 10 Sept 2024AnsweredUIN 5136More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department plans to take to (a) clean up water ways in a timely manner and (b) encourage companies to invest in waterways to improve infrastructure in the water industry
Answer: Ofwat on 11th July proposed allowing a spending package of £88bn by water companies. This investment will deliver upgrades of 1500 wastewater treatment works, improvement of thousands of storm overflows and investment in improving bathing waters. The Secr...
Answered 20 Sept 2024
Original Parliament recordSocial Workers: TrainingDepartment for EducationTabled 10 Sept 2024AnsweredUIN 5135More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make it her policy to provide mandatory training for social workers on identifying signs of coercive and controlling behaviour.
Answer: The regulator for the social work profession, Social Work England, sets the professional standards which all social workers must meet. The professional standards include that social workers must be able recognise the risk indicators of different forms of ...
Answered 18 Sept 2024
Original Parliament recordPrivate Rented Housing: EvictionsMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 10 Sept 2024AnsweredUIN 5134More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to (a) end Section 21 evictions and (b) support tenants facing eviction under a Section 21 notice before that time.
Answer: The Government introduced the Renters’ Rights Bill on Wednesday 11 September. It delivers on our manifesto commitment to overhaul the regulation of the private rented sector, including by abolishing Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions.We want to see tenants b...
Answered 18 Sept 2024
Original Parliament recordPublic Transport: Gender Based ViolenceDepartment for TransportTabled 10 Sept 2024AnsweredUIN 5133More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department plans to take with Cabinet colleagues to help reduce violence against women and girls on public transport.
Answer: This Government is committed to tackling Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG), and we have set out our unprecedented mission to halve it within a decade. Achieving this means concerted work on prevention and overhauling every aspect of society’s respon...
Answered 18 Sept 2024
Original Parliament recordUnemployment: Young PeopleDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 10 Sept 2024AnsweredUIN 5132More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to (a) identify and (b) reduce the barriers facing young people not in work or education.
Answer: Our plan to get Britain Working includes a new Youth Guarantee for all young people aged 18-21 to ensure that they can access quality training opportunities, an apprenticeship or employment support. This will sit alongside; a new national jobs and careers...
Answered 18 Sept 2024
Original Parliament recordBuildings: InsulationMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 10 Sept 2024AnsweredUIN 5131More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to support residents of buildings with unsafe cladding.
Answer: The Government is committed to protecting qualifying leaseholders from the costs of fixing historic building safety defects that were not their fault. Legislation has been introduced to ensure that qualifying leaseholders are both protected from costs an...
Answered 18 Sept 2024
Original Parliament recordOwner Occupation: HomelessnessMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 10 Sept 2024AnsweredUIN 5130More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to help increase access to home ownership for (a) homeless and (b) displaced people.
Answer: Homelessness and rough sleeping levels are far too high. This can have a devastating impact on those affected.We are taking action by setting up a dedicated Inter-Ministerial Group, which the Deputy Prime Minister will chair, to develop a long-term strate...
Answered 18 Sept 2024
Original Parliament recordMental Health Services: Waiting ListsDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 10 Sept 2024AnsweredUIN 5129More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department plans to take to reduce the waiting lists for NHS mental health services.
Answer: People with mental health issues across the country are not getting the support or care they deserve. This is why we will fix the broken system to ensure that mental health is given the same attention and focus as physical health, so that people can be co...
Answered 16 Sept 2024
Original Parliament recordCovid-19 InquiryDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 10 Sept 2024AnsweredUIN 5128More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his planned timeframe is for implementing recommendations of the covid-19 inquiry.
Answer: The COVID-19 Inquiry’s first report, which covered resilience and preparedness, was published on 18 July 2024, and makes 10 recommendations for the Government. As the Prime Minister’s written ministerial statement to Parliament said, the Government will c...
Answered 17 Sept 2024
Original Parliament recordGaza: Health ServicesForeign, Commonwealth and Development OfficeTabled 10 Sept 2024AnsweredUIN 5127More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure the UK responds adequately to the humanitarian crisis of the collapsed healthcare system in Gaza.
Answer: The UK Government is concerned about the worsening humanitarian context in Gaza. The FCDO is closely monitoring the impact of the conflict, including on health. We recently announced £5.5 million for UK-Med to support the ongoing work of its field hospita...
Answered 19 Sept 2024
Original Parliament recordIsrael: Military AidMinistry of DefenceTabled 5 Sept 2024AnsweredUIN 4447More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make an assessment of the legality under international humanitarian law of operational support to the Israeli military.
Answer: The Ministry of Defence only provides support to foreign militaries where it is satisfied that it is lawful under international law and domestic law to do so.
Answered 13 Sept 2024
Original Parliament recordDefence: Manufacturing IndustriesMinistry of DefenceTabled 5 Sept 2024AnsweredUIN 4446More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to support UK defence manufacturing through government procurement.
Answer: The UK’s defence manufacturing industry is vital not only to our national security but to our prosperity and economic growth.. This Government is committed to developing a UK defence industrial base that is able to better support our own and allies securi...
Answered 19 Sept 2024
Original Parliament recordPrisoners: VeteransMinistry of JusticeTabled 5 Sept 2024AnsweredUIN 4445More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate her Department has made of the number of veterans in prison.
Answer: As per the statistics in the “Ex-service Personnel in the prison population: 2023” publication included at the following link, an estimated 3.6% of the prison population were ex-service personnel as of 30 June 2023: Offender Management Statistics quarterl...
Answered 11 Sept 2024
Original Parliament recordCouncil Tax: Single PeopleMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 5 Sept 2024AnsweredUIN 4444More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the removal of the single-person council tax discount on (a) under-thirties and (b) pensioners.
Answer: The Government currently has no plans to reform council tax. Decisions on future local authority funding will be a matter for the next Spending Review and Local Government Finance Settlement in which we are engaged.
Answered 11 Sept 2024
Original Parliament recordIsrael: PalestiniansForeign, Commonwealth and Development OfficeTabled 5 Sept 2024AnsweredUIN 4443More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of recent Israeli military activity in the West Bank.
Answer: The UK is concerned by the Israel Defense Forces' (IDF) ongoing military operation in the occupied West Bank and attacks by Palestinian militants. We recognise Israel's need to defend itself against security threats, but we are worried by the methods Isra...
Answered 13 Sept 2024
Original Parliament recordWinter Fuel PaymentDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 4 Sept 2024AnsweredUIN 4270More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the impact of the removal of Winter Fuel Payments on pensioners in receipt of attendance allowance.
Answer: Winter Fuel Payments will continue to be paid to pensioner households with someone receiving Pension Credit or certain other income-related benefits. They will continue to be worth £200 for eligible households, or £300 for eligible households with someone...
Answered 9 Sept 2024
Original Parliament recordQualificationsDepartment for EducationTabled 4 Sept 2024AnsweredUIN 4269More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will pause the defunding of applied general qualifications scheduled for 2025 and 2026.
Answer: In July 2024, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education announced a short pause to the defunding of qualifications to enable a review of 16-19 qualification reforms at Level 3 and below. This ensured that 95 qualifications set to lose fun...
Answered 19 Sept 2024
Original Parliament recordCouncil Tax: Single PeopleMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 3 Sept 2024AnsweredUIN 4045More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many and what proportion of households that receive the single person council tax discount are (a) widows and (b) widows of retirement age.
Answer: The Government does not collect data on the individual characteristics, or benefits received, of residents of households receiving a single person council tax discount.
Answered 11 Sept 2024
Original Parliament recordCouncil Tax: Single PeopleMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 3 Sept 2024AnsweredUIN 4044More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate her Department has made of the number of households in receipt of the single person council tax discount that are set to lose Winter Fuel Payments.
Answer: The Government does not collect data on the individual characteristics, or benefits received, of residents of households receiving a single person council tax discount.
Answered 11 Sept 2024
Original Parliament recordMotorways: SafetyDepartment for TransportTabled 3 Sept 2024AnsweredUIN 4043More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the safety of smart motorways.
Answer: Safety on our roads is of the upmost importance and that is why the Government is committed to delivering a new Road Safety Strategy. The last set of safety data published by National Highways shows that, overall, all three types of smart motorway are saf...
Answered 11 Sept 2024
Original Parliament record
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